


The Garden of Lies

by Lokiiwood (undersans), undersans



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-17 16:39:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13663020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undersans/pseuds/Lokiiwood, https://archiveofourown.org/users/undersans/pseuds/undersans
Summary: One mistake. Two loves. A garden of lies between them all.  The truth may be too much to handle, but sometimes the lie can destroy everything.





	1. A Lovely Ladybug

**Author's Note:**

> This was incredibly painful to write, which is why I'm doing it. Cheating themes.

They sat in silence for over an hour. This time there was no television, no radio head, no jazz or pop music notes to fill up the space between them. It was just the two of their bodies and the occasional breeze that reminded them they were even outside – that the world was still moving. The tiny, curious legs of a ladybug finally caused a stir. Saeran quietly stood up and walked forward to the nearest flower bed, finger pointed. The ladybug crawled on and hesitated at his fingertip. Then quickly, it jumped and disappeared into the thicket. Another breeze. The dozens of colors waved their heads and arms, sapping in the sunlight.

Saeran returned to the wooden bench, and flinched when it creaked. He still needed to fix it. MC and Saeran had built this together, but now it was broken. Maybe that was a metaphor for their situation.

“I don’t want to tell him,” she finally said.

“I don’t want to either.” The words escaped his mouth quicker than he even understood them. His heart skipped a beat when he realized what they both were implying.

“You can’t lie to him, you’re his wife,” he sighed.

“And you’re his brother,” she snapped back.

This time, the silence was dangerous.

“It’ll get harder the more we wait,” Saeran admitted. He knew what the right thing to do was, he had all the information in front of him. He used to be a hacker, he could see all the pieces laid out like a puzzle. The solution was there – he just didn’t want it.

“This is your fault,” MC cracked. The tears started flowing and she buried her head into her hands, bending over and causing the bench to creak again.

“What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to say?” She sobbed out.

“This is the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life!” she screamed.

Saeran clenched his hands involuntarily. “Don’t just blame me,” he whispered. MC rocked back and forth, still crying. An hour’s worth of emotion seemed to be falling out of her at once.

_Creak._

“He’ll never forgive me, I don’t want him to.”

_Creak._

 “Are we going to get divorced?”

_Creak._

 “We had a happy family. We had something. We had everything.”

_Creak._

“And then you!”

_Creak._

She stood up, off the bench. “You planned all of this!”

Saeran stood up, then felt a sharp pain. He looked down to see his nails digging into his palm. He uncurled his fists and placed them under his armpits. MC noticed.

“You got what you wanted, so why are you angry?”

Saeran took a few steps back and looked away. His emotions were all over the place, and the only thing he feared besides how broken-hearted his brother would be was going back to _before_. Green eyes seemed to follow him everywhere.

“Answer me!” MC stomped her foot.

“You knew it was me, and you didn’t stop,” he choked out, surprised at his own voice rising and cracking. He looked back towards her angry face, unable to find in himself the same fury.

“You used me and now you’re blaming me,” he continued, finding courage to defend himself against her. “You knew I…You knew I liked you, and you took a chance,” he cried. Like a dying petal, the unflattering expression melted away from her flowery face. Left was only sadness. She couldn’t direct her pain and resentment towards Saeran, she knew what he was saying was true. Denial could only get her so far, and MC knew in the end, regardless of the reason, the deed had already been done.

More silence.

“Saeyoung will forgive you,” he gulped. “But I obviously can’t live here anymore, things will never be the same.”

MC folded her arms and turned to the flowers. “What if you just leave, and we act like nothing ever happened?”

A ladybug flew past them to elsewhere in the garden. Saeran couldn’t find a meaning to it – no more metaphors crossed his mind that was blanking out. The suggestion sounded wonderful. He didn’t want to be here anymore – in fact, almost any place except here in this garden sounded nice.

_The garden._

His labor of love he’d have to leave now. One mistake and all his precious babies are abandoned.

He gazed towards the flowers, too. Flowers that should never have been planted near each other lived in harmony under his care.

But now, he may as well have burned them down.

“I can’t leave here, you two should go,” Sarean countered. He couldn’t see her expression, but he knew it must’ve been surprise. This was always regarded as belonging to the three of them, but everyone deep down knew it really belonged to the married couple that didn’t want to kick out the beloved brother. But he couldn’t leave his garden. Could he uproot it all and safely transplant them in a new location?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a garage. Both of them whirled around to the house, then exchanged glances.

“We can’t tell him now, I’m not ready,” MC blurted out. Saeran nodded – neither could he. They had deliberated on everything, but no one was actually prepared for the actual confessing part. Fear gripped their hearts. MC rubbed her eyes hurriedly on her shirt, in an obvious state of panic. Silently, he walked over to her and licked his finger. She was confused, but allowed him to wipe away tears that had dried in the corner of her eye.

Both of their hearts beat faster, and they felt disgusted with themselves in response. They stared into each other’s eyes – unable to really understand the feelings being communicated.

MC tore her eyes away and began walking towards the house to greet her husband, practicing an excited smile. Saeran turned back towards the garden, eyes scanning for signs of the resident friendly ladybug. He couldn't find anything and sighed. With shivers going down his spine, his feet reluctantly walked him back to the house he couldn’t bare seeing anymore.


	2. Than Intended

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pain of a lie bares down heavily on Saeran's mind - a bit too heavily.

“And then I just drove off, so that was scary. We definitely can’t use that grocery store, anymore,” Saeyoung laughed as he and MC placed groceries on the counter. She humored him and laughed back, loudly. The sound grated Saeran’s ears and the scene hurt his heart as he stood at the edge of the kitchen.

MC smiled and waved at him. He watched her as she walked away to put some perishables in the fridge, unsure if he was feeling anger at her acting or something else entirely. “Hey, Saeran, you going to help?” Saeyoung asked, smiling at his brother. “Were you two in the garden?”

Saeran froze up.

“Oh, yes, we’re getting more…ladybugs,” he said. It wasn’t necessarily a lie, so he felt comfortable saying it. He walked over and picked up some cans for the pantry, which was on the other side of the kitchen away from MC – intentionally.

They all moved around with Saeyoung doing most of the chatter and the goods were stored away in mere minutes.

“Thank you guys! Hey Saeran, show me a ladybug?”

He almost got excited before the sharp pain and weight of his lies hit his conscious. He didn’t feel like he deserved to be happy.  He clenched his head – what a terrifying, intrusive thought. No, he was fine. He deserved happiness. He made a really bad mistake and would face consequences, but that didn’t mean he…

“Saeran?” Saeyoung asked, his eyebrows raised in concern.

He let go and pulled his arms straight down. “Yes! The ladybugs, follow me,” Saeran said a bit louder than he intended.

Saeyoung followed behind his brother, whose pace was also a bit quicker than intended. “You OK?” Saeyoung asked as Saeran opened the back door.

“Perfect,” he lied. He glanced back to see that MC had vanished.

“Um, I’m sure I can find it pretty quickly. There’s a few, but there’s one really friendly one,” Saeran blabbered, trying to sound as perfect as possible. “I should probably name her, she flies on me – maybe she likes my scent? That’d be weird, right?”

He turned to face his brother, but Saeyoung stood in the doorway, staring at him with a frown.

“What?” Saeran said in a tone a little bit more accusatory than intended. He stopped himself from pressing on – even though the sensation of fight or flight was tickling his stomach.

“Your hand,” Saeyoung pointed.

Saeran looked down, seeing a couple small punctures on his palms. Blood.

He clasped his hands together and sighed, plopping down on the bench.

_Creak._

Saeyoung joined him.

_Creak._

“You were holding your head and then your fists? What’s going on? You can talk to me, Saeran,” he said, reaching over to put his hands over brother’s trembling hands.

Saeran pulled it away, feeling bile in his throat. He was being comforted by his brother after betraying him. After all he did for him, he still did the unimaginable. Self-hatred, a familiar feeling, seemed to tingle at the very edges of his extremities.

“Hey, you mad at me?” Saeyoung asked, putting his hands back on the bench.

“Is this about the ice cream? I’m sorry I flaked, but I’ll take you for sure still!”

Tears felt their way to the very edges of his eyes. The flowers in front of him appeared to be blurring. He stood him and rushed out, wiping his eyes as casually as possible.

“Ah, I think over here was the last time I saw it! Just give me a second,” Saeran laughed.

Luckily, he spotted the red and black, slowly moving object. He sniffed and reached out a finger. It ran away from the sudden movement.

“Oh, I scared it,” Saeran said, a little disappointed. “It’ll probably come back though. Here, Saeyoung, if you want to see--,”

He turned, but his mirror was already right behind him, peeking over.

“Ah, cute…”

There was no way to hide his emotions or tear stains when Saeyoung was so close – a breath away. He told himself to hold it in, afraid his lies could escape his lips and kiss his brother’s.

But Saeyoung said nothing. He smiled at his brother with excited eyes as if the features on his face didn’t give away his distress.

Saeyoung hugged him suddenly, then pulled away and bolted towards the door. “MC! I want to make cookies, how do you feel about banana chocolate chip?”

Saeran almost fell over as soon as Saeyoung was out of sight. He clenched his chest again, trying to grab his heart that was furiously beating. It ached – it hurt – this wasn’t normal, this wasn’t supposed to happen. He gasped, sucking in air. He had forgotten to breathe for so long.

_This pain is fine, I deserve it._

No! The intrusive thought was punched down as soon as he understood it, but it wasn’t quick enough. The fear from knowing it existed tickled his ears. Was it coming in, dancing on his brain, or was it leaking out of some hidden corner? Without knowing, how could he plug it up and make sure it didn’t return?

_He’ll never forgive you, he’ll leave you._

Maybe – maybe – but he would be alright. Saeyoung loved him, his brother would never leave him entirely, not after everything they’d been through. Of course not. He sighed and sank down, not bothering to walk over to the bench. But even without him sitting on it, he could feel it creaking.

No - he could still fix this.

Saeran pulled himself up, the ideas firing off. Could he tell him something different, but close to the truth? Could he make MC the culprit and himself the victim? He bit his lip. He needed a way to alleviate his guilt, but would that solve anything? Was it selfish to tell Saeyoung and hurt him, if he could solve everything and just leave? No, MC was still in the wrong. His departure wouldn’t solve their marriage issues, right?

Of course. _The party_. He smiled, a big wider than intended.


	3. Routine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saeran and MC struggle to keep up their lie as the party draws near.

MC sat on the edge of their bed, watching Saeyoung’s back more than his screen as he typed away on her computer. “Honestly, I don’t know why you’d disable the antivirus just because a game suggested you to. Wh-hy!” He exclaimed, laughing, glancing back at her while his fingers continued moving. She smiled, playing with her hair, “Sorry, I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s OK, I’ll admit I’ve done the same once or twice, but that’s ‘cause I have a bunch of other security. Alright, done!” He bounced up from the chair and spun around, dramatically falling to a knee in front of her. “Babe?” He said, wiggling his eyebrows and raising his hands. She folded her arms, trying not to laugh.

“Will you marry me again?”

She unfolded her arms and gently grabbed his hands. “Stop before I throw you into space. I propose next time!” She grinned and he laughed, conceding. “Alright, alright. Well, don’t worry about games not loading anymore. I made it so downloads can’t detect anything on the computer at all – requirements any game checks for will automatically be returned positive.”

“You’re a genius, Saeyoung,” she said, leaning in to kiss his forehead. He removed his hands from hers and pulled her face lower into his, touching their lips deeply.

“I know,” he sighed, pretending to be frustrated. “What am I going to do with all this intellect?” MC opened her mouth to retort, but his lips found hers again instead. She closed her eyes and relaxed into him. “I love you,” he whispered. Shivers ran down her spine from the sweet words that caressed her heart. “I love you, too,” she said, pulling away.

He got up and sat beside her on the bed, sighing. “Do you know what’s wrong with Saeran? He’s been weird all week, barely at home. I’m not sure where he’s even sleeping or how much, he won’t talk to me. I’m worried he’s…unstable.”

Chilly. The feeling of sweetness on her lips immediately felt too sweet, now. Sickening.

“No,” she lied, twirling her hair again.

“You should try talking to him! He opens up to you pretty easily, maybe he feels like he’s going to bother me?”

She tugged on her hair a little too roughly and stopped.

“He’s not really talking to me either,” she admitted. The first truthful thing related to Saeran she said all week. “Well you haven’t really been trying to talk to him,” Saeyoung said, whining playfully. She knew he was messing around, but he was hitting a little too close to reality. “Please?” Saeyoung pushed.

“Of course I’ll try, honey,” MC smiled, flicking his forehead gently. “Alright,” he yawned.

She got up from the bed as Saeyoung laid back, stretching. “Can you turn the light off when you leave?” He asked. They had voice detection, but Saeyoung was clearly too tired to even think of it. “Have a nice nap, love.” The lights turned off and MC closed the door.

She couldn’t bring herself to call Saeran for at least 15 minutes, pacing around the house before she made her way to the garden. She stared at where the bench used to be, completely replaced with a new one, different wood and all. When did he do that? It must’ve been at night when Saeyoung and her were already sleeping. It pained her to see what she had worked so hard on gone without a trace. She had begged Saeran to let her help, and they decided to do a bench since neither of them were experienced. It was a labor of…

She sighed and walked out into the garden, hesitating before sitting on the new bench. It was sturdy – perfect even. Maybe he didn’t make it, maybe he bought it? She pressed the name in her app and let it ring, looking around and feeling the bench. It went to voicemail – it wasn’t entirely unexpected but it still hurt. What was that? She bent over more, looking under the bench. Saeran did make it, at the very bottom was wood from the last bench. In fact, one of the few planks was the one they had carved their names on. She smiled, then frowned. What was wrong with her?

Then the phone rang. It was Saeran’s ringtone, calling her back so soon. She took a deep breath and accepted.

“Hello, this is Saeran.” He sounded strangely formal for someone who was calling back a family friend. Was it because of their situation or was he somewhere on business? She knew he was picking up more of his niche garden consultation work, but in the moment all she felt was suspicion.

“Saeyoung is worried about you,” MC said, her own concern dripping down through the wires. “Ah, I understand. Let him know I’m alright, then,” he responded flatly. He still sounded like he was on business. Was this how he planned to speak with her the rest of his life?

“I’m worried about you, too,” she corrected. MC heard him hesitate on the other line. “You fixed the bench,” she continued.

Saeran laid on the burned floor, hand raised to block out the sunlight from the broken windows. Magenta was trashed, emptied, and abandoned, but he found himself wandering the castle often, especially on bad days. But today wasn’t a bad day, the voice of a screaming alter ego didn’t find itself in his ears. Today, he was here on business. He stood up at the mention of the bench and walked to the broken windows, looking down at the blossoming garden he’d secretly been tending to. The old bench from home sat in view, a little broken from the piece he removed for the new, improved one.

“Yeah, I got tired of the creaking,” he finally answered.

“It grew on me,” MC sighed.

“Me too, but it was time to let it go.”

Now it was MC’s turn to go silent. While he waited, he began making his way outside to the garden.

“Um, I’ll be back tonight,” Saeran continued, stepping over broken glass that littered the hallway. He hadn’t planned to, but after hearing her voice he wanted to return. “It’s been a week.”

A week since they betrayed Saeyoung, a week since he felt her soft skin brushing against his, a week since he felt more complete than he ever had before.

“I’m not ready,” she breathed out.

“We’ll never be ready,” he answered. He made his way outside and crouched beside a struggling daffodil, reminiscing about the times Savior – no, Rika – and he would walk through these grounds and talk about the weather. He knew it was wrong to think fondly about any of his time in Mint Eye, but there were moments when he did smile. Saeran didn’t mention these moments to anyone anymore, the concerned stares weren’t worth it. Everyone had already did so much for him already, had been so forgiving and patient, that worrying people became one of his major fears.

“How about after the party?” She asked. Saeran stood up, it was just as he had wanted. But it felt good to know she was on the same page as him.

“That gives us three days.”

“I…yes.”

MC felt chills on her arms. _Three days until it all falls apart._ But she couldn’t hold onto this lie any longer. The love of her life, Saeyoung, deserved to know the truth. She knew that couples went through rough patches, but nothing had prepared her for how awful it felt. On the outside, they were the perfect couple – they laughed, they goofed around, they bought each other random gifts. But sometimes MC found herself lonely in her own house as Saeyoung jumped from one thing to the next, as if he couldn’t learn to enjoy being home with her. She ended up finding comfort in other things, but then she started finding comfort in the person who was giving her copious amounts of care and attention – Saeran, who filled in the gaps of Saeyoung’s scattered departures. Saeran was stability, a sweet man who dropped anything he was doing for her. When she came home, it was Saeran who was there to greet her, not Saeyoung.

The confused feelings started when Saeran finally laughed at one of her jokes, a hearty laugh that was identical to – “Saeyoung,” she had said. Saeran’s face lit up and she gasped, apologizing profusely at the mix-up. But the damage had been done. Saeran acted different ever since, uncomfortable with her presence in the room but craving it. His nature when they were alone reminded her of when she first met Saeyoung, a troubled man who wanted but rejected the forbidden fruit in front of him. Sometimes MC would sneak up and hug the hunched over man, kissing his messy red hair. But, to her dismay, it wouldn’t be Saeyoung at all. They would laugh it off, but at some point it became routine. The mix-ups, the confusion, the overlap of feelings became routine. And that’s why they were in this mess now.

The phone beeped and she snapped out of memory lane. Saeran had hung up on her, probably because she hadn’t responded in so long. She headed back inside, sluggish and beginning to feel dehydrated. Despite the constant reminders, she was skipping meals because her upset stomach couldn’t handle the stress. She poured herself a glass of water and sat at the dining table, sipping on it slowly. A tear fell in the glass and she pulled it away.

She sunk into the table, shoulders convulsing as she silently crumbled into a fit of sobbing. Even this had become routine – the weight of her shame only lifted when no one was around to see it. But in a matter of days, she would have to display it to the world – her world, Saeyoung.

_Three days._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A date is set for the reveal, but what exactly is Saeran planning? What business is he really tending to away from home? Will either of them even make it to the party?


End file.
